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BidoonBidoon or bidun (trans. without) is a term used in Kuwait to refer to residents of the country who do not hold citizenship. Bidoon may be refugees who have illegally entered a Kuwait to avoid poverty or war, or those who have settled there since 1920 but who have not been recognised by the state. They are not afforded the rights of a full citizen of the country. The children of bidoon fathers are themselves considered bidoon. Before 1990, the majority of bidoon were Bedouin settlers from the northern Arabian Peninsula. Following the invasion and subsequent liberation of Kuwait in the early 1990s a large number (estimated at between 50,000 and 85,000) of Iraqi refugees remained in the country. A further 10,000 to 20,000 further refugees of Palestinian origin have since joined them. The government of Kuwait have stated it is their intention to assimilate the bidoon, granting them full citizenship. In May 2000 up to 36,000 bidoon who had been resident in Kuwait since 1965 were granted citizenship, and 2001 the same rights were extended to bidoon husbands of Kuwaiti women. The numbers granted citizenship have since fallen to between 600 and 2000 per year.
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